Tuesday, February 14, 2012

We're hearing more about short-term rentals in the East Village following Friday's post about 528 E. 13th St. We heard from a former resident of 31 St. Mark's Place.

"I keep in touch with my old neighbors all the time and it sounds like the building has changed hands several times and most recently, we discovered that the owner is possibly illegally renting apartments like a hotel."

The resident points us to an Airbnb listing for a "DREAMY" apartment on St. Mark's Place...

The "approximate" address is 38 St. Mark's Place... which isn't an existing address on St. Mark's Place.

In any event, this particular listing is worth noting for the "house rules," which we reposted below... (The all caps are part of the rules; the bold is our doing)...

PLEASE BE COURTEOUS AND POLITE TO THE NEIGHBORS in the building. They do not want to live with crazy, loud people. Please: No crazy parties or loud drinking! TRY NOT TO TALK TO THEM. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY YOU ARE RENTING MY APARTMENT. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY WHICH APT YOU ARE STAYING IN. JUST TELL THEM YOU ARE A FRIEND VISITING. Please DO NOT TALK IN THE HALLWAYS. If anybody were to ask you something, you are a friend staying with me on holiday visiting New York and you did not pay me money to stay at the apartment BUT TRY TO AVOID CONVERSATION. Please try to be discreet going up the stairs and try not to linger in the hallways

I just want to make it clear that this is not being done by a "neighbor". The person who listed this does not nor has ever lived in the apartment. A matter of fact, she has listed TWO apartments in this same building as hotel rooms. (The building has only 14 units). She has also listed on airbnb other apartments on Saint Marks Place as if they are her own apartment with the same house rules.

This is wrong in so many ways...I don't even know where to begin. Is it any wonder that we're experiencing a housing shortage in NYC rentals? Meanwhile, I wonder about the history of this unit. Who has been displaced to make way for a mini-hotelier to set up shop?If you know about this, who do you tell? Which city agency?

They are doing this in my building. How do I know? A surfeit of rolling suitcases and the look of terror on the faces of my new upstairs neighbors when I complained about the noise. I've thought of doing it. I would only be like, literally, 500% profit a day, but I am philosophically opposed to gauging, so I will just have to live here.

As an owner, I wish there wassome way for me to prevent this from happening in my buidlings, but housing court has not let me evict my tenants (who have ALL bee RS, btw), even if they are scamming and ripping off people.

If they are decontrole,d I just do not renew their lease, if they are RS, they know they can get away with it...

I live at 31 and have been there since '76. How about the fact that these "hotel apartments" are rent-stabilized? Insanity. We've been fighting for so long, too tired now. Let the rolling suitcases keep on rollin..

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